1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in telescopic warheads or noses for carrier projectiles such as appliances, bombs or missiles, the explosive charge of which is notably made of submunitions scatterable and housed in the front portion of said carrier projectiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, there exist many embodiments of ammunitions, rockets and missiles, the explosive charge of which is made of submunitions which are contained inside an envelope, shell or container and which are scattered above the ground before detonation of the projectile carrying the charge.
To improve efficiency, the trend for the construction of such charges is to increase the number of submunitions carried in the same pay-load. However, this pursuit leads to reducing the space requirement of each of the submunitions and when the submunitions are stacked or nested along their axis into each other in the form of rows, the submunitions are short. As a result, there is a lower efficiency for hollow charges as well as for anti-personnel splinters or fragments.
Indeed, it is known that the best efficiency of a charge with splinter effects, operating by detonation on impact with the ground, is obtained by raising up the point of explosion above the ground, by lengthening the warhead of the projectile or of what is used as a warhead.
Likewise, the best efficiency in the case of a shaped charge is obtained by increasing the "stand-off distance" D (see FIG. 1) which is the length between the base of the liner "B" and the front portion or edge of the warhead "O". In fact, it is well known that it is possible to improve and even to optimize the perforating power P of a shaped charge by optimizing the stand-off distance. The increase in perforating power which can be obtained in this way is at first approximately proportional to the stand-off distance D, expressed in calibers, between 0 and 3 calibers, and is maximum for a stand-off distance D of about 4 to 6 calibers, as shown in the graph of FIG. 1A.
As such, spreadable devices have been proposed for lengthening the warhead, or what is used for it, of such ammunitions, with a view towards improving the performance of the charges, which carry an explosive having a shaped charge effect.
The spreadable devices proposed to date, such as the axially spreadable antennae for example, are housed in the warhead when stored, thus occupying for the main part, during storage prior to the spreading of the spreadable devices, the space formed by the inner volume of the warhead as such and that of the liner, which is usually left free.
But in some particular cases, such arrangements which are generally without disadvantages can be unacceptable and impracticable. Such is the case for the submunition charges with splinter effects, hollow charge effects or mixed effects previously mentioned, in which submunitions are nested into each other with the front volume of each submunition housing generally the rear portion (stabilizer, fuze, etc.) of the previous submunition, which thereby excludes axial antennae.